The accidental meddler
by Siriusly-mckinnon
Summary: Octavia says some stuff she shouldn't and messes things up for Bellamy. At least in the AU she's sorry about it. Modern/College AU. Bellarke
1. Chapter 1

The annoying trill of an alarm broke through her haze of sleep. When the man next to her made no indication that he had heard it she lifted her head slightly from its place against his chest and tapped the side of his face. 'Bell turn it off, need sleep.'

He made an unintelligible sound and reached up to grab the hand tapping at his face. He brought it to his lips and kissed it before holding up the head on his chest and slipping out from under her. 'I have class but stay as long as you like, you know where everything is' he dropped a kiss to her forehead and started to get dressed.

Clarke knew he was being genuine with the invitation to stay, two years of close friendship meant she was more than welcome to snoop around his apartment. Even with their newer, not exactly defined relationship it was the same deal. Nobody else knew but that was down to Bellamy. She had heard Monty mention a potential date to him and while he had turned it down he had said nothing about him and Clarke. That was fine, she could keep it under wraps for as long as he needed her to. She lay spread-eagle out on his bed, squinting at the alarm clock showing 8am and she groaned. She hated days Bellamy had early class, if he were at home chances are he would have stayed in bed for another hour and then gotten up to either make her breakfast in bed or wake her up with his head between her thighs. She had never been a morning person but even she had to admit the Bellamy Blake wake Clarke up plan was more than adequate. She stayed in bed until the much more acceptable hour of 10am and then got up to make her own breakfast and start her day.

Their relationship progressed with him mostly at her place since she lived alone but occasionally at his when Miller, his roommate, wasn't there. She was happy, she and Bellamy had built a solid friendship before anything sexual had started and she was enjoying this more romantic side of her best friend. If her friends had noticed anything different about her they said nothing, neither did his.

Octavia didn't come to visit Bellamy often but when she did it was always a whirlwind. This time no different. Clarke wasn't 100% sure how she felt about Octavia. The girl was slightly terrifying and she didn't seem to treat Bellamy all that well, of course she'd never say any of this to Bellamy. What was worse was not knowing what Octavia thought of Clarke. Sometimes she was warm and chatty with her, sometimes cold and indifferent. It was enough to give a girl whiplash.

Clarke hadn't even known Octavia was visiting when she knocked on Bellamy's door for a House marathon and hopefully some really good sex. When Octavia opened the door those plans were quickly shattered.

'Oh hey Clarke, Bell's been called into work to fix an… ice-cream machine? Something like that anyway. You wanna come in and wait for him?' Evidently today was a warm and sunny Octavia day because she was giving Clarke a frankly stunning smile and stepping back to allow her entry.

'Just wanted to pick Bellamy's brain about my Art History essay, I can come back later no problem' A lie, she was there for sex and company but Octavia didn't need to know that.

Octavia continued to usher her inside, 'You're fine, and we can catch up while we wait for him'

Clarke shrugged and made her way inside. May as well get to know Octavia better, if things continued going well with Bellamy she would be seeing a lot more of her.

They fell into easy conversation. Octavia learned all about Clarke's degree and Clarke about Octavia's current job teaching MMA classes. As if she wasn't already terrifying enough. Octavia made them tea and they sat exchanging stories. Clarke was surprised to hear about her new boyfriend Lincoln but it was clear that she was very fond of him and Clarke credited her current nicer disposition to the boyfriend. Octavia's love life gave way to talks of Bellamy's.

'I know he'd like to settle down with someone, Bell is more than capable of a healthy relationship but he seems to just be wasting his time with girls he's not serious about and it's frustrating'

Clarke shifted uncomfortably. 'How do you know he doesn't have someone already?'

'He does, but it's not serious and I don't know why he's bothering if there's no future there' She sighed heavily.

'How do you know he's seeing someone?' Clarke asked, trying to keep her voice the right level of interested.

Octavia rolled her eyes. 'I know my brother, I know how he acts when he's seeing somebody. Also the hickey on his neck he forgot to cover that I saw this morning just confirmed my suspicions'

Clarke pursed her lips. Oops. 'And how do you know it's not serious?'

Octavia raised her eyebrow. 'C'mon Clarke, you're Bell's best friend and he hasn't mentioned whoever it is to you? He hasn't said anything to Miller either. I can't think of anyone he's dated in the past that he hasn't been excited to tell me about. I don't know if it's a case of stress release of if he just doesn't wanna hurt their feelings but believe me whatever it is it's ending soon.' She scoffed scornfully. 'Why would someone wanna be hidden like a secret anyway, I'm sure they've noticed they hasn't met _any_ of Bell's friends.'

Clarke digested that, her throat tightening uncomfortably as she realised Octavia was right. Bellamy was always open with his friends about people he dated, excited even to introduce them to the group. Octavia was the number one most important person in Bellamy's life, if he saw a future he would surely want her opinion on it.

'I think you're right actually.' Mercifully Clarke's voice didn't shake. 'They must not be very important to him'

'Exactly, some fling I'd say' Octavia said in agreement. She was about to continue speaking when her phone buzzed and Clarke saw her chance.

'It's getting pretty late and I really do have to do this essay, I can always just message Bellamy any questions I have' she said, struggling to keep her voice even. She felt utterly dejected and all she wanted to do was go home, eat her body weight in ice-cream and watch something trashy. Until this conversation she hadn't realised just how much she enjoyed being with Bellamy and it was a kick to the gut to know she was alone in the sentiment.

'You sure?' When Clarke nodded Octavia got up to walk her to the door. 'Okay well thanks for the catch up Clarke, I'll tell Bell you stopped by.'

Clarke smiled at her, enjoying this softer version of Octavia. She was surprised when she leaned in for a hug but Clarke just went with it. It was quick and a little awkward but not unwelcome.

'Bell is lucky you're his friend.' Coming from Octavia that was basically the compliment of the year.

'Nah, I'm the lucky one.' If Octavia noticed the drop in Clarke's smile or the slightly bitter tone she had taken on, she said nothing.

Once Clarke got home she put her head in her hands and sighed, fighting back tears. This is what happens when you fuck your best friend, she thought. You get feelings for them, assume they feel the same and get your heart crushed in the process. She swallowed and sat up, grabbing her phone determinedly. She still wanted her ice-cream and trashy movie marathon but that would have to wait. Right now she had a phone call to make.


	2. Chapter 2

She knew it was cowardly of her to end it by phone, cowardly and unfair but Clarke was a mess when it came to Bellamy Blake and seeing his stupidly pretty face would crumble any resolve she had. Clarke Griffin was nobody's dirty little secret. One of the worst things about this kind of situation was the existing friendship. She obviously couldn't avoid him forever, they were in the same friend group and despite it all Bellamy was a very valued friend of hers. She just needed some time to get over it.

She hadn't really gone into it on the phone, just told him that it would be best if they went back to being just friends and then made an excuse to get off the phone as quick as possible for fear she'd either burst into tears or he'd manage to convince her to keep them going when she knew she deserved better than that. The whole thing reminded her uncomfortably of the Finn incident and Bellamy knew how much that had hurt her so she was at a loss as to why they had let their thing continue for so long.

As she made an excuse to avoid going out as a group for the third time that week she mentally shook herself. She would have to get out of this slump soon, if she didn't she knew her ever perceptive best friend Raven would notice there was something up and inevitably get the story out of her. Then she'd call her an idiot for getting involved with Bellamy in the first place and give her that pitying look and offer to beat him up. While she was hurt, Clarke was also extremely embarrassed about the situation. She was not a particularly impulsive person, she would go so far as to say she's logical, always using her head over her heart. So why, with Bellamy Blake, did she find it so difficult to use her head?

Across town Bellamy was frowning at the message Clarke had put in the group chat about not being able to meet everyone at the bar tonight. Her vague call that had ended things between them had left him with more questions than anything. Questions only Clarke could answer except every text he had sent her had either gone unanswered or was met with a one word answer. Each time he called her she had let it go to voicemail and he had even gone over to her place to find her mysteriously absent.

He thought things had been going great, he was gone on Clarke from the beginning and when they had finally crossed that line from friends to lovers he had been elated. He just didn't know where it had all gone wrong, was it something he did, something he said? The only person that could tell him was Clarke. The only person he wanted to talk to was Clarke. He took out his phone to try again, knowing it would go to voicemail but determined she would hear him regardless.

Octavia was outside the bathroom door where her brother had been for the past 45 minutes. She had heard the shower turn off already and she needed to pee. She was about to bang on the door when his voice sounded from inside.

'Look Clarke I know you don't want to talk to me but please just tell me what I did. I've been wracking my brain for days trying to figure out where I went wrong. If it got too much for you that's fine I can handle it. We don't have to be together, you already know I can be your friend but I just-' he cut himself off with a breath. Even from outside the door Octavia could tell he was close to tears. 'I miss my best friend Clarke, please talk to me. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Just please get back to me, I need you'

She crept back from the door and walked to the kitchen, sitting on a stool and leaning her elbows on the island, her full bladder forgotten. The conversation she and Clarke had a few weeks ago came rushing back to her and she winced. Well fuck. Clarke had seemed a little off when she was leaving but Octavia had put it down to college stress. Bellamy had certainly been mopey the last while but she knew how dramatic her brother could be and hadn't thought much about it. She chewed her lip in thought. If she told him about the conversation with Clarke she knew he'd lose the plot and she really couldn't be bothered defending herself against her brother. A voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Lincoln's told her that she needed to fix this. She cursed when he emerged from the bathroom and steeled herself.

'Bell, I need to talk to you about something'

He sighed. 'Not now O, Lincoln was enough of a bombshell and I'm not in the mood.'

She had told him about Lincoln during her last visit and it had NOT gone well. She pushed on regardless.

'You're going to want to hear this Bell, it's about Clarke'. His head shot up at the mention of her name and Octavia continued. 'Remember last time I was here and I told you she had stopped by to see you?' He nodded. 'Well we got to talking while she waited'

Bellamy narrowed his eyes at her. He knew Octavia's guilty face when he saw it. 'What did you do, O?'

'We were talking about you and relationships and stuff and I mentioned that I knew you had been seeing someone.' She met his eyes and he looked taken aback. 'Yes I knew about it'

It was his turn to shift guiltily.

'Anyway I may have… insinuated to Clarke that you must not care about whoever it was because you'd kept it so quiet' she winced as she said it.

He blinked at her in shock. 'What the fuck, O?'

'Well I didn't know it was Clarke you were fucking did I?' she snapped back.

'Don't use that word, it wasn't fucking. We were… It was more than that' he ran his hands through his hair making his curls even more unruly. 'What the fuck were you thinking O? She thinks I didn't care about us now'

'Well it's not like you really have a leg to stand on here? You didn't tell anyone about it and you always share with us so it was fair of me to assume it was just a fling' she said defensively. 'If you didn't want something like this to happen you should have said something about her.' He opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off. 'I came down here to tell you about Lincoln, it would have been nice to have the same courtesy.'

Bellamy loved Octavia, he really did but she had the awful tendency to turn everything around so that it was 100% not her fault instead of accepting her share of the responsibility. She could be so bratty sometimes. The worse part was that she was right, he shouldn't have been so hush about their relationship but she was still out of order. All she had to do was apologise and they could move on but O didn't seem to know how to say the word sorry.

'That may be true Octavia but you just fucked up one of the best things in my life by not talking to me, you could have just asked me if I was seeing somebody. I wouldn't have lied to you' He sighed heavily and leaned his head on his hand. Octavia was about to jump in and defend herself when he spoke again, softer this time. 'She won't talk to me O, she won't see me and I don't know what to do'

He heard Octavia slip off her stool and come to stand behind him. She slipped her arm around him in a hug and leaned her head against his shoulder. He knew that was as close to an apology he would get from her.

'You know where she lives Bell, you make her listen.' Her voice was slightly muffled from his shoulder but it was much kinder than it had been a few minutes ago. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that Lincoln seemed to be having a positive effect on her attitude.

He nodded against his hand and sat up straighter. 'You're right, I have to let her know what she means to me. I should have done it ages ago.' He got up off his stool and slipped on his shoes. When he turned around Octavia was holding his keys out to him.

'Go get your girl' followed him as he walked out of the apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

As he drove to Clarke's he could feel nerves joining the butterflies already pooled in his stomach. He was good at speeches, he knew that. Whenever his friends needed any kind of motivational talking to or some life advice it was always him they came to. Even with this knowledge he was terrified. This wasn't him encouraging Jasper to finally ask Maya out. This wasn't him motivating Raven that she could do what she had previously deemed impossible. This was Clarke. Everything about this had to be perfect, it was what she deserved.

As he pulled up outside her complex he noted her car in the lot and let out a sigh of relief. She was home. He took the steps to the fourth floor, a journey he had made countless times before, but this time was different. This time he was finally going to tell Clarke Griffin he was head over heels in love with her stupidly pretty face. He'd had her body, basked in the light of her brilliant mind and now all he needed was her heart. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

She didn't answer. He sighed in exasperation, he knew she was home but she wouldn't be his Clarke without that stubborn streak. 'Clarke, I know you're home. Please open the door.' He called from outside, tapping on the door. Still the door remained shut. He did hear some shuffling on the other side so obviously she was near the door listening.

'This is something you need to hear Clarke. I'd prefer to do it to your face but you know I'll say it from out here if I have to.' He paused. 'Although I'm not sure how your neighbours are going to feel about that.'

He heard a muffled curse from inside and the door cracked open. 'Fucking hell Bellamy.' He caught sight of one brilliant blue eye and a few strands of her sunny blonde hair before she opened it wider to reveal all of her. 'Fine, come in.'

He stepped in the room and she skirted back a few steps. Despite the seriousness of the situation he couldn't help but smile seeing her. He had gone from being with her almost every day to this and as his eyes roamed her face he tried to catalogue every detail in case this conversation didn't go the way he was hoping.

'I'm actually really busy Bell so can we just agree to let it go and go back to friends?' She said without looking at him.

'I know what O said to you.' Her eyes shot up to meet his and he could see the panic in them. 'Clarke that's just… not at all what was going on.'

She swallowed noisily. 'Octavia made some valid points, Bellamy.' Her eyes drifted back to the floor. 'I'm okay with things going back to normal but I just need some time. You can't keep inviting me to things and showing up at my house. Just give me some time to get over it.'

He took a step closer to her and reached a hand out under her chin to tilt her eyes up to his. 'I don't think I could ever get over you, Clarke Griffin.' Her brow furrowed and she made to pull her head back when he continued. 'Five minutes of your time Clarke please, if you don't like what I have to say then I'll go. I'll give you all the time you want.'

She paused to think and eventually nodded slightly. He reached down to take her hand and led her over to the couch to sit her down. He sat on the little coffee table so that their knees were touching and her face was almost level with his. She still wouldn't look at him properly and it broke his heart. Clarke was good at a lot of things but hiding her emotions was not one of them. He could easily see the myriad of emotions skittering across her face. Anxiety, discomfort and sadness were only a few. He still had her hand in his and she made no move to take it back. He turned it over to fit his palm more comfortable against hers so they were holding hands properly.

'I know how it looked Clarke. I know what O said made sense to you and that's my fault. I shouldn't have assumed that you knew how I felt, I just thought I was always so obvious about it that there was no way you couldn't know.' He gave her a rueful smile. 'Everyone else does, not that we were together but everyone else knows how ridiculously in love with you I am. Apparently it's written all over my face every time I look at you.'

She inhaled sharply at this and she looked up at him wide eyed. He could see the confusion plain on her face and he cursed himself. She really did have no idea.

'Then why did you keep me a secret?' Her voice was dejected and still she had trouble meeting his eye. She was strong in so many ways, he had seen her stare down men twice her size and intellectually destroy people in debate to name but a few examples. When it came to feelings however, she was so reluctant to believe in the positive ones.

He straightened up slightly. It was difficult for him to articulate exactly why he had been so hush about them but she deserved an explanation.

'You know, I think I've been in love with you from the beginning.' She looked at him sceptically. 'Yeah I know we didn't get on that well but I still think I recognised how important you were going to be to me, it just took me a while to accept it.' He ran his free hand through his hair, searching for the words he needed. 'It was never you Clarke, nothing to do with you. My whole life I've shared everything. With O, with my friends, with basically anyone that needed me to. You came along and-' he cut himself off to bring their joined hands to rest against his heart. 'You came along and just once I didn't want to share. Then you actually became mine and it was so surreal. I guess I thought it was too good to be true, that if we moved out from our little bubble that it would stop being real and I'd lose you.'

She was looking into his eyes now, looking a lot less sad than she had. He took this as a sign to continue.

'I never asked you exactly what I meant to you and I should have. I thought if I kept my head in the sand and never addressed it I could continue on the edge. I didn't know if it was sex or if you actually wanted something with me. The longer I dragged out having to have the conversation, the longer I could guarantee you were mine. I could tell myself that while we didn't define it I could call you half mine. You were like… Schrodinger's Clarke.'

This got a little laugh out of her and she kept the half smile on her face as the sound faded. He moved forward to slot her knee in between his so he could lean his forehead against hers.

'I love you Clarke, don't for one second ever think you're anything but it for me. I don't know if you feel the same but I'm done being a coward and letting you think that you're not everything to me. If you were really mine I'd happily shout it to the world, if that's what you wanted.'

He could see the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes but she was smiley widely at him.

'You're a goddamn idiot, Bellamy Blake. "I don't know if you feel the same". A blind man could tell I'm head over heels for you' She untangled her hand from his to throw her arms around his neck. He stood up and moved clear of the sofa and the table to spin her around. It was like pure magic hearing her laugh in his ear. He set her down and she grinned up at him.

'Maybe not the world but we should probably tell the guys if we're really doing this.' She moved her hands from around his neck to rest one around his waist to lead him back to the couch.

He picked up his phone from where he had set it down on the table and shot a text into their group chat.

 **Mom Friend™:** Sorry guys can't make it tonight. Bringing my girl to dinner.

 **Genius Birb:** Aren't you afraid she'll deflate at the dinner table?

 **Monty aka sweet cinnamon roll:** Who's your girl? When did you get a girl?

He laughed at his friends responses and held up the phone to take a picture of him and Clarke. They sent two. One of him pressing his lips to her cheek and the next of them grinning wildly at the camera.

 **Octagon:** I knew you could do it big brother!

 **Genius Birb:** I FUCKING CALLED IT YOU SNEAKY LITTLE FUCKERS. Congratulations mom and dad xxx

 **Monty aka sweet cinnamon roll:** Oh, I thought this was gonna be some INTERESTING news.

 **Monty aka sweet cinnamon roll:** Jk Jk, Proud of you guys. Use protection 3

 **Genius Birb:** Have all the sex for us poor singletons please and thx

 **Octagon:** ew that is my brother. Also not a singleton anymore lol sorry boo

 **Genius Birb:** excuse me baby Blake what you talking about?

 **Mom Friend™:** Thanks guys!

He turned to smile at Clarke. 'I'm muting this before the others see it and it turns into a shitshow or Raven ends up killing Octavia.'

She laughed out loud and then grinned slyly. 'Raven gave us an order Bell, we better go get started.'

He grinned back and let her lead him to her bedroom, thinking all the while that he must be the luckiest damn guy in the world.

A/N: This is the end! Thank ya'll for reading and I hope ye enjoyed it. I basically used this story to procrastinate for my upcoming exam. Still haven't studied for it but atleast strangers on the internet like my procrastination methods right? Find me on tumblr under siriusly-mckinnon


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